You inflict an additional 3 points of damage with your chosen weapon.
When you or your duplicate (from the Duplicate ability) would take damage, you can transfer 1 point of damage from one to the other provided that you and your duplicate are within 1 mile (1.5 km) of each other.
You speak words of revelation and judgment to everyone within close range. Those whom you have designated as guilty with your Designation ability take an additional 3 points of damage from any attack they receive from anyone who heard your judgment. This judgment lasts for up to one minute or until they move at least a long distance away from you.
If you are attacked by surprise, whether by a creature, a device, or simply an environmental hazard (a tree falling on you), you can move an immediate distance before the attack occurs. If moving prevents the attack, you are safe. If the attack can still potentially affect you—if the attacking creature can move to keep pace, if the attack fills an area too big to escape, etc. —the ability offers no benefit.
Your initiative task is eased. You pay the cost each time the ability is used.
You ignore penalties for any action (including fighting) in extremely dim light or in cramped spaces. If you also have the Eyes Adjusted ability, you can act without penalty even in total darkness. You are trained in sneaking tasks while in dim or no light.
For the next minute, you cover yourself with a shell of dark matter. Your appearance becomes a dark silhouette, and you gain an asset to sneaking tasks and gain +1 to your Armor. The dark matter shell works seamlessly with your desires, and if you apply a level of Effort to any physical task while the shell persists, you can apply an additional free level of Effort to that same task
Action to initiate.
Ribbons of dark matter condense and swirl about you for up to one minute. This shroud eases your Speed defense tasks, inflicts 2 points of damage to anyone who tries to touch you or strike you with a melee attack, and gives you +1 Armor
Action to initiate.
When you attack a foe within long range, dark matter condenses around your target and entangles its limbs, holding it in place and easing your attack by two steps. The ability works for whatever kind of attack you use (melee, ranged, energy, and so on).
You can form dark matter into a large structure consisting of up to ten 10-foot (3 m) cubes. The structure can be somewhat complex, though everything has the same matte black color from which no light shines. Otherwise, the structure can possess different densities, textures, and capacities. This means it can include windows, doors with locks, furnishings, and even decor, as long as it is all black as pitch. For example, you could shape the dark matter into a large, defensible structure; a sturdy 100-foot (30 m) bridge; or anything similar. The structure is a level 6 creation and lasts for 24 hours. You can't keep more than one such structure solid at any one time.
With computer access, you jack in instantly and learn a bit more about something you can see. You get an asset on a task involving that person or object.
You pull someone into a daydream, substituting a dream of your own creation for the target's reality for up to one minute. You can affect a target within long range that you can see, or a target within 10 miles (16 km) that you have hair or skin clippings from. To all outward appearances, an affected target stands (or lies) unmoving. But inside, the substituted reality (or dream within a dream, if the target was sleeping) is what the target experiences. If the target is under duress, it can attempt another Intellect defense roll each round to break free, though the target may not realize its state. Either the dream unfolds according to a script you prepared when you used this ability, or if you use your own actions (forcing you into a similar state as the target), you can direct the unfolding dream from round to round. Using this ability on a sleeping target eases the initial attack.
Action to initiate; if you direct the dream, action to direct per round.
You hit your foe in just the right spot, dazing them so that tasks they attempt on their next turn are hindered. This attack inflicts normal damage.
You send a barrage of dazzling colors at a creature within short range and, if successful, inflict 2 points of damage on the target. In addition, the creature's attacks are hindered on its next turn, unless the target relies primarily on senses other than sight.
You make a melee attack that inflicts no damage against a machine. Instead, if the attack hits, make a second Speed-based roll. If successful, a machine of level 3 or lower is deactivated for one minute. For each additional level of Effort applied, you can affect one higher level of machine or you can extend the duration for an additional minute. If you have the Scramble Machine or Disable Mechanisms ability (or an ability that works similarly), when you apply a level of Effort to any of them, you gain an additional free level of Effort.
For the next minute, all ranged attacks you make inflict 2 additional points of damage
Action to initiate.
If you strike a foe of level 3 or lower with a weapon you're practiced with, you kill the target instantly.
If you're in a location where it's possible for your swarm of creatures from your Influence Swarm ability to come, you call a swarm of them for ten minutes. During this time, they do as you telepathically command as long as they are within long range. They can swarm about and hinder any or all opponents' tasks, or they can focus the swarm and attack all opponents within immediate range of each other (all within long range of you). The attacking swarm inflicts 4 points of damage. While the creatures are in long range, you can speak to them telepathically and perceive through their senses
Swarms don't usually have game stats, but if needed, a typical swarm is level 2. Only attacks that affect a large area affect the swarm.
Action to initiate.
You gather disrupting energy in your fingertip and touch a creature. If the target is an NPC or a creature of level 3 or lower, it dies. If the target is a PC of any tier, they move down one step on the damage track.
In any gathering of two or more people trying to establish the truth or come to a decision, you can sway the verdict with masterful rhetoric. If you are given one minute or more to argue your point, either the decision goes your way or, if someone else effectively argues a competing point, any associated persuasion or deception task is eased by two steps.
Action to initiate; one minute to complete.
You make an attack to deliver a painful or debilitating strike. The attack is hindered. If it hits, the creature takes 2 additional points of damage at the end of the next round, and its attacks are hindered until the end of the next round.
If you spend one minute examining a piece of writing or code in a language you do not understand, you can make an Intellect roll of difficulty 3 (or higher, based on the complexity of the language or code) to get the gist of the message
Action to initiate.
When you develop a plan that involves you and your friends working together to accomplish a goal, you can ask the GM one very general question about what is likely to happen if you carry out the plan, and you will get a simple, brief answer. In addition, all of you gain an asset to one roll related to enacting the plan you developed together, as long as you put the plan into action within a few days of the plan's creation.
When others are exhausted, you can push through. Once each day, you can transfer up to 5 points among your Pools in any combination, at a rate of 1 point per round. For example, you could transfer 3 points of Might to Speed and 2 points of Intellect to Speed, which would take a total of five rounds.
You gain an additional 6 points to your Speed Pool.
While underwater, any creature you choose that can see you has an asset on swimming tasks.
You protect everyone within immediate range whom you have designated as innocent with your Designation ability. Speed defense rolls made by such creatures gain an asset.
For the next ten minutes, if someone you have designated as innocent with the Designation ability stands next to you, that creature shares any defensive advantages that you might have, other than mundane armor. These advantages include the Speed defense from your shield, the Armor offered from a force field, and so on. In addition, Speed defense rolls made by the innocent creature gain an asset. You can protect only one innocent creature at a time
Action to initiate.
You have studied your enemy and are trained in anticipating the actions that a robot or machine is likely to take in a fight. Defense tasks you attempt against these foes are eased.
Every time you succeed at a Speed defense task, you can make an immediate attack against your foe. (If you have Dodge and Respond, you can exchange that ability for Dodge and Resist.) Your attack must be the same type (melee weapon, ranged weapon, or unarmed) as the attack you defend against. If you don't have an appropriate type of weapon ready, you can't use this ability.
By upgrading your nervous and immune systems, you are trained in Might defense and Speed defense tasks.
Thanks to subdermal implants, a permanent spell, alien modifications, or something similar, you now have a force field that radiates 1 inch (2.5 cm) from your body and provides you with +2 Armor.
You can change your phase so that some attacks pass through you harmlessly. For the next ten minutes, you gain an asset to your Speed defense tasks, but during this time you lose any benefit from armor you wear
Action to initiate.
The natural gravity within an area a short distance across that you are within immediate range of changes directions so that it flows in the direction you determine (up, up and to the south, west, and so on) for a few seconds, then snaps back. Affected targets could be tossed up to 20 feet (6 m) and take a few points of damage.
Using your mind, you protect yourself from incoming attacks. For the next ten minutes, you are trained in Speed defense tasks
Action to initiate.
During the course of an investigation, your questions sometimes elicit an angry or even violent response. Through dissembling, verbal distraction, or similar evasion, you prevent a living foe from attacking anyone or anything for one round.
You project confidence, knowledge, and charisma to all who see you for the next hour. Your demeanor is such that those who see you automatically understand that you are someone important, accomplished, and with authority. When you speak, strangers who are not already attacking give you at least a round to have your say. If speaking to a group that can understand you, you can attempt to have them produce their leader or ask that they take you to their leader. You gain a free level of Effort that can be applied to one persuasion task you attempt during this period
Action to initiate.
You assign an innocent or guilty label to one creature within immediate range, based on your assessment of a given situation or a predominant feeling. In other words, someone who is labeled innocent can be innocent in a certain circumstance, or they can be generally innocent of terrible crimes (such as murder, major theft, and so on). Likewise, you can declare that a creature is guilty of a particular crime or of terrible deeds in general. The accuracy of your assessment isn't important as long as you believe it to be the truth; the GM may require you to give a rationale. Henceforth, your tasks to socially interact with someone you designate as innocent gain an asset, and your attacks against those you designate as guilty gain an asset. You can change your assessment, but it requires another designationAction. The benefits of the designation last until you change it or until you are shown proof that it is wrong.
You enjoy uncanny luck as if something was watching over you and keeping you from harm. When you would otherwise descend a step on the damage track, make an Intellect defense roll versus the difficulty set by the level of the foe or effect. If you succeed, you do not descend that step. If the step was because you fell to 0 points in a Pool, you are still at 0 points; you just don't suffer the negative effects of being impaired or debilitated. If you would otherwise descend the final step on the damage track to death, a successful defense roll keeps you at 1 point in one Pool, and you remain debilitated.
You instantly tear, rip, or burst a metal object that is within sight, within short range, and no bigger than half your size. Attempt an Intellect task to destroy the object; the task is eased by three steps compared to breaking it with brute strength.
If you succeed on a Might task to damage an object, instead of descending one step on the object damage track, the object descends all three steps and is destroyed. free level of Effort
The benefits provided by Designation apply to the character using the ability, their allies, and anyone who hears or is told of their judgment and believes their assessment.
A character could use Define Down to help propel allies to a location they can't otherwise climb to.
You consciously send out a pulse of your your life energy. You detect all living creatures within short range, even if they are behind cover, though not if they're behind a force field. When you detect a creature, you detect its general location (to within an immediate range). If you apply two additional levels of Effort, you can increase the range of detection to long.
When examining any unknown, alien, or high-technology device, you can ask the GM one question to gain an idea of its capabilities, how it functions, how it can be activated or deactivated, what its weaknesses are (if any), how it can be repaired, or any other similar query. This is for difficult or strange things beyond those readily identified by using the appropriate knowledge or technical skill.
Choose one character you can see. That character becomes your ward. You are trained in all tasks involving finding, healing, interacting with, and protecting that character. You can have only one ward at a time
Action to initiate.
You magnetize any nonmetallic object within short range so that it can be affected by your other magnetic powers. Thus, with Move Metal, you can move any object. With Repel Metal, you are trained in all Speed defense tasks, regardless of whether the incoming attack uses metal. And so on.
You distract, blind, annoy, hamper, or otherwise interfere with a foe, hindering their attacks and defenses for one minute.
With a keen eye and quick moves, you disrupt some functions of a robot or machine and inflict upon it one of the following maladies
You must touch the robot or machine to disrupt it (if you are making an attack, it inflicts no damage).
You bend light that falls on you so you seem to disappear. You are invisible to other creatures for ten minutes. While invisible, you are specialized in stealth and Speed defense tasks. This effect ends if you do something to reveal your presence or position— attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining invisibility effect by taking an action to focus on hiding your position.
Even though light bends around a character with the Disappear ability, they can still sense their surroundings. If the GM wants to throw a bone to realism, the invisible character's perception tasks are hindered.
Action to initiate or reinitiate.
You attempt a Speed task to disarm a foe as part of your melee attack. If you succeed, your attack inflicts 3 additional points of damage and the target's weapon is knocked from their grip, landing up to 20 feet (6 m) away. If you fail, you still attempt your normal attack, but you don't inflict the extra damage or disarm the opponent if you hit.
Your attack inflicts 1 point less damage and disarms your foe so that their weapon is now 10 feet (3 m) away on the ground. (If your chosen weapon is a whip, you can instead deposit the disarmed weapon into your hands; if your chosen weapon is a bow or other ranged weapon that fires physical rounds, you can instead “nail” the disarmed weapon to a nearby object or structure. Choosing to do either of these hinders your attack.)
You have +3 Armor against damaging attacks and damaging effects that target your mind and Intellect. Defense rolls you make against attacks that attempt to confuse, persuade, frighten, or otherwise influence you are eased.
You keep your allies on their toes with occasional questions, jokes, and even mock drills for those who care to join in. After spending 24 hours with you, your allies can apply a free level of Effort to any initiative tasks they attempt. This benefit is ongoing while you remain in the allies' company. It ends if you leave, but it resumes if you return to the allies' company within 24 hours. If you leave the allies' company for more than 24 hours, you must spend another 24 hours together to reactivate the benefit. You must spend the Intellect point cost each 24 hours you wish to keep the benefit active.
You are trained in disguise. You can alter your posture, voice, mannerisms, and hair to look like someone else for as long as you keep up the disguise. However, it is extremely difficult to adopt the appearance of a specific individual without a disguise kit at your disposal.
You hinder all actions attempted by any number of targets within short range who can understand you. You choose which targets are affected. Affected targets' actions are hindered for one round.
You can turn your Phase Sprint into a melee attack by purposefully grazing another creature as you run. When you do, the touch releases a violent blast of energy that inflicts 2 points of damage to the target (ignores Armor). Whether you hit or miss, your movement (and turn) ends immediately, which puts you within immediate distance of your target. If you apply Effort to increase damage rather than to ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); the target takes 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll.
The Distortion ability grants a creature an asset to their Speed defense.
You know that space and distance are illusions. You concentrate to create an invisible, immobile sensor at a location you have previously visited or viewed (at the GM's discretion, you may have to succeed at an Intellect task if the location is warded). The sensor lasts for one hour. Once it is created, you can concentrate to see, hear, and smell through the sensor. It doesn't grant you sensory capabilities beyond the norm.
Action to create; action to check.
You can activate, deactivate, or control a machine at long range as if you were next to it, even if normally you would have to touch or manually operate it. If you have never interacted with the particular machine before, the task is hindered by two steps. To use this ability, you must understand the function of the machine, it must be your size or smaller, and it can't be connected to another intelligence (or be intelligent itself).
You modify how a willing creature within short range reflects light for one minute. The target rapidly shifts between its normal appearance and a blot of darkness. The target has an asset on Speed defense rolls until the effect wears off
Action to initiate.
You can safely dive into water from heights of up to 100 feet (30 m), and you can withstand pressure when in water as deep as 100 feet.
For one minute, you automatically deflect or dodge any ranged projectile attacks. However, on your next turn after you're attacked with ranged projectiles, all your other actions are hindered
Action to initiate.
You split your consciousness into two parts. For one minute, you can take two actions on each of your turns, but only one of them can be to use a special ability.
You ask the divine to intervene on your behalf, usually against a creature within long range, changing the course of its life in a small way by introducing a major special effect upon it. The major special effect is akin to what occurs when you roll a natural 20 on an attack. If you want to try for a larger effect, and if the GM allows it, you can attempt a divine intervention with a more far-reaching effect, which is more like the kind of GM Intrusion initiated by the GM on their players. In this case, Divine Intervention also costs 4 XP, the effect may not work out exactly like you hope, and you may not make another plea for divine intervention for a week.
You are trained in all tasks related to knowledge of godly beings.
Your prayer calls divine radiance from the heavens to punish an unworthy target within long range, inflicting 4 points of damage. If the target is a demon, spirit, or something similar, it also stands in unwilling awe of the divine energy coursing through it and is unable to act on its next turn. Once exposed to this blessing, the target can't be awed by this attack again for several hours.
You invoke divine power by scribing a glowing symbol in the air with your fingers. Writhing pillars of divine radiance spear up to five targets within long range. A successful attack on a target inflicts 5 points of damage. If you apply Effort to increase the damage, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); targets take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll.
Acting only as someone who is famous and used to privilege can, you verbally harangue a living foe who can hear and understand you so forcefully that it is unable to take any action, including making attacks, for one round. Whether you succeed or fail, the next action the target takes after your attempt is hindered.
You can reroll any of your Might, Speed, or Intellect defense rolls and take the better of the two results.
If a melee attack misses you, you can immediately make a melee attack in return, but no more than once per turn.
When you wield two weapons, you can choose to make one attack roll against a foe. If you hit, you inflict damage with both weapons plus 2 additional points of damage, and because you made a single attack, the target's Armor is subtracted only once.
You fashion and control a “hovering” phantasmal construct of magic within long range that resembles a dragon's head. The construct lasts for up to an hour, until it is destroyed, or until you cast another spell. It is a level 4 construct that inflicts 6 points of damage with its bite when directed. While the construct persists, you can use it to manipulate large objects, carry heavy items in its mouth, or attack foes. If you use it to attack foes, you must use your action to directly control the phantom maw for each attack
Action to initiate.
Your Drain Machine and Drain Creature abilities work on a target within short range.
You can drain the power from an artifact or device, allowing you to regain 1 Intellect point per level drained. You regain points at the rate of 1 point per round and must give your full concentration to the process each round. The GM determines whether the device is fully drained (likely true of most handheld or smaller devices) or retains some power (likely true of large machines).
Action to initiate; action each round to drain.
You can drain energy from a living creature you touch, inflicting 3 points of damage and restoring 3 points to your Might or Speed Pool.
You can drain the power from an artifact or powered device you touch. If the target is a robot, you inflict 3 points of damage and restore 3 points to your Might or Speed Pool. If the target is an object, you restore points to your Might or Speed Pool equal to the level of the target. If the target is a manifest cypher, it is fully drained and useless. Artifacts and similar devices must immediately check for depletion (items with a depletion of “—” are either immune to this ability or have a depletion of 1 in 1d10 when attacked with this ability).
You affect the main power source of a robot or machine, inflicting upon it all four conditions in Disable Mechanisms at once. You must touch the robot to do this (if you are making an attack, it inflicts no damage).
After careful observation and investigation (questioning one or more NPCs on a topic, searching an area or a file, and so on) lasting a few minutes, you can learn a pertinent fact. This ability is a difficulty 3 Intellect task. Each additional time you use this ability, the task is hindered by an additional step. The difficulty returns to 3 after you rest for ten hours.
You've seen a lot and done a lot, and that experience comes in handy. Ask the GM one question, and you'll receive a general answer. The GM assigns a level to the question, so the more obscure the answer, the more difficult the task. Generally, knowledge that you could find by looking somewhere other than your current location is level 1, and obscure knowledge of the past is level 7.
The GM decides if a target you want to drain is protected in some way, which hinders your attack, or doesn't have any power you can tap. When using Drawing on Life's Experiences, the player is encouraged to make up an anecdote, even if only in overview, that serves as a basis for gaining the ability's benefit.
Training in driving makes the character practiced in using a vehicle as a weapon. If the vehicle is used to run over a victim or ram an enemy vehicle, treat a motorcycle as a medium weapon and treat a car or truck as a heavy weapon.
You create a dream object of any shape you can imagine that is your size or smaller, which takes on apparent substance and heft. The object is crude and can have no moving parts, so you can make a sword, a shield, a short ladder, and so on. The dream object has the approximate mass of the real object, if you choose. Your dream objects are as strong as iron, but if you do not remain within long range of them, they function for only one minute before fading away.
You steal a previous dream from a living creature within short range. The creature loses 2 points of Intellect (ignores Armor), and you learn something the GM chooses to reveal about the creature—its nature, a portion of its plans, a memory, and so on.
You pull an image from a dream into the waking world and place it somewhere within long range. The dream lasts for up to one minute, and it can be tiny or fill an area an immediate distance in diameter. Though it appears solid, the dream is intangible. The dream (a scene, a creature, or an object) is static unless you use your action each round to animate it. As part of that animation, you could move the dream up to a short distance each round, as long as it remains within long range. If you animate the dream, it can make sound but does not produce odor. Direct physical interaction or sustained interaction with the dream shatters it into dispersing mist. For example, attacking the dream shatters it, as does the strain of keeping up appearances when an NPC moves through a dream scene or engages a dream creature in conversation for more than a couple of rounds.
Action to initiate; action to animate.
You are trained in all tasks related to driving a car, truck, or motorcycle, including mechanical repair tasks.
You can make an attack with a light or medium ranged weapon and attempt a driving task as a singleAction.Enabler.
When you wield two weapons, you are trained in Speed defense tasks.
When you wield two weapons, your opponent's next attack is hindered, and if you apply Effort on your next attack against that same foe, you get a free level of Effort on the task.
You can use two light weapons at the same time, making two separate attacks on your turn as a single action. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply on one action, but because you make separate attacks, your opponent's Armor applies to both. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to both attacks, unless it's specifically tied to one of the weapons.
You can use two light weapons or medium weapons at the same time (or one light weapon and one medium weapon), making two separate attacks on your turn as a singleAction. This ability otherwise works like the Dual Light Wield ability.
You can have two wards from Devoted Defender at a time. Choosing a second ward can be its own action, or you can choose two wards with one action (and only pay the cost once for doing so). The wards must remain within an immediate distance of each other. Benefits provided by Devoted Defender apply to both your wards. If your wards separate, you choose which retains the benefit. If they come back together, both regain the benefit immediately.
Choose a target (a single individual creature that you can see). You are trained in all tasks involving fighting that creature. When you successfully attack that target, you inflict +5 damage, or +7 damage if the creature is engaging someone else instead of you. You can duel only one creature at a time. A duel lasts up to one minute, or until you break it off
Action to initiate.
You cause a duplicate of yourself to appear at any point you can see within short range. The duplicate has no clothing or possessions when it appears. The duplicate is a level 2 NPC with 6 health. The duplicate obeys your commands and does as you direct it. The duplicate remains until you dismiss it using an action or until it is killed. When the duplicate disappears, it leaves behind anything it was wearing or carrying. If the duplicate disappears because it was killed, you take 4 points of damage that ignore Armor, and you lose your nextAction.
Action to initiate.
You disintegrate one object that is smaller than you and whose level is less than or equal to your tier. You must touch the object to affect it. If the GM feels it appropriate to the circumstances, you can disintegrate a portion of an object (the total volume of which is smaller than you) rather than the entire thing.